The Unexpected Path
by snopuppy250
Summary: Chelsea: I'm an artist waiting for my career to take me somewhere. I didn't mean like this! I'm always so focused on art, can I really do this? Especially with my secret I've been carrying with me for the past 3 years. Vaughn: How has my life changed so much because of this one girl! Sigh* Life's complicated when it comes to humans.. Fate, It's a crazy thing. Romance/Humor/Drama
1. Nightmare

**The Unexpected Path**

**I've had this story on my mind for quite some time now and I have bits and pieces of what I definitely want to write so bear with me. This is actually my first time writing stories since I was really little so I hope this turns out okay and I hope you'll enjoy it.**

_Chelsea_

_*Whoosh*_ I watched a patch of tumbleweed cross my path as I stood in the middle of an old deserted western town. It was around sunset and I was all alone. No one was in sight for miles. I had trouble breathing as my heart was beating a mile a minute._*Creeaaak* _I quickly turned and spotted a swinging door and sighed in relief. "It's okay Chelsea, there's nothing here." I reassured myself. Still on edge, I slowly walked around. I walked into an old saloon and heard the floor creak as I stepped on it. As I walked past the bar, I heard and felt everything shake. I heard movement next to me so I turned and saw glasses flying off shelves toward me. My eyes widened and I stumbled backward as quickly as I could just barely missing the bar stools. My head started pounding tremendously and my heart beat out of my chest as I tried to catch my breath. "Holy crap! What was that?! Okay, calm down Chelse, maybe that was… an earthquake…..yeah that's it." _"GET OUT!...NOW!" _Shaking, I turned around. There was a man around the age of 50 glaring at me with short jet black hair hidden under a dark brown cowboy hat. He had a mustache and a lot of stubble. He had a gun pointed at me. Strangely he was transparent but all I was focusing on was his pistol. I backed up into a barstool and my breath got caught in my throat. "YA HEAR ME!? GET OUT OR I'LL SHOOT!" I stood there like a deer in headlights. _*BANG* _

"AHHHHHHHHHH"

My heart stopped for a second until I realized where I was, sitting at a work desk, staring at a pile of drool near the painting that was requested to me by a client. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank god! That's the last time I watch paranormal haunting while working on a request late at night!" You see, I'm an aspiring artist and my painting was of an old western wagon with cactuses surrounding it in the middle of a desert so I could understand why _that_ was the setting in my drea….ahem….nightmare. "Yechh….." I wiped my face of drool and looked at my clock. 6:00 A.M. "Shit!" I rushed into the bathroom and took a ten minute shower, came back out, got dressed, put my artwork back in my suitcase, collapsed my easel and rushed out of my hotel room to check out.

Since my client is overseas, I have to travel by ship to deliver it personally. I prefer to give it to them personally because I don't trust my artwork being sent by mail, air fare or ship. When I first started my small business about a year ago, they lost it and I had to give my client a refund. They never had business with me again. I don't want to relive that so I have to catch my ship which leaves port at 7:00 A.M.

I grabbed a quick bite to eat and ran down the city streets as fast as I could because I didn't want to pay for a cab as I didn't have much money on me. I looked at my watch, 6:50. I looked up and saw the ship, relieved I was on time. I started to slow down and catch my breath as I walked up to the man at the ramp. "Ticket please." I reached in my pocket and grabbed my ticket. "Here you go…" He thanked me and I walked on. The man I saw earlier was apparently the captain and called out that he heard the seas may be rough today. I dismissed it and walked out to the front of the ship looking out at the cloudy sky in the distance. "I'm finally able to relax." I closed my eyes, took in a big breath, and smiled, feeling a slight breeze through my hair.

I walked to my cabin on the ship and sat on my bed. I searched for the papers telling me where to bring it to. "Sunny Island, huh? Sounds great to me!"

I fell back asleep and awoke to hear the whistling wind and the waves crashing up against the ship. I began to feel somewhat seasick from the rocking.

_Captain_

"Man, the seas are getting really rough. I'd better notify passengers to stay in their rooms." I picked up the intercom and spoke into it, "Everyone, this is your captain speaking. The storm has arrived. Do not panic and stay in your rooms until further notice. It's not safe to stand on open deck."

_Chelsea_

"Everyone….captain speaking. (Whooosshhh)…..arrived. Do not…(Crash)….(Whirrr)….in your rooms…(Crash)…..on open deck." I scrunched up my face trying to hear the captain. What I thought I heard was, 'Everyone, your captain speaking. We've arrived. Do not leave any of your belongings in your rooms. Exit on open deck.' "Sweet, we're here!" I grabbed my stuff and walked on the deck. I looked up and saw we were still out at sea and that the deck was soaking wet. I was just about to rush back into my room when the ship tilted forward and caused me to slip. I fell on my back and staggered trying to get back up. Somehow the quick tilting of the ship made me dangerously close to the water's edge. I panicked and tried to stand up as quickly as I could but forgot there was a railing there and bumped my head. I fell back down and passed out, unconscious, still clutching my suitcase.


	2. Agreed to What! ?

**Alright I have nothing to really say here but enjoy! XD Oh! I don't own Harvest Moon or Natsume in any way or the characters.**

_Chelsea_

I awoke as groggy as ever. I sat up and held my head in my hands, staring at the pink and yellow bed sheets on my lap, "Ughhh….." My head jolted up, "Bed sheets…..?...Why am I…..?"

"Hey grandpa! She's up!" I looked to my right and saw a girl about my age, with long pink-ish hair pulled back in a braid, peeking out from the doorway. She walked in and sat on the pink bed across from me. "Hey, I'm Natalie, what's your name?" She held out her hand for me to shake. Thoroughly confused I stared at her…. "Ummm….Hi….I'm Chelsea….. Uhh… Where am I… exactly?"

*THUNK* She put her hand back down and called over her shoulder. "ELLIOT! YOU CLUMSY OAF! WHAT'D YOU DO NOW!?" I heard a small male voice call back, "n-nothing.." Natalie turned back to me, "Sorry about my idiot brother, he probably tripped on the box of today's shipments from Mirabelle's barn."

My ears perked at 'Mirabelle'. Where have I heard that name before? "Mirabelle?" "Yeah! She's the keeper of the animals on this island. This is my house and we take care of the shipments that come from there." Alright that clears things up a bit…. I guess but….

"How did I get here?" Natalie pondered for a moment, "We don't really know to tell you the truth." She walked up to the end of my bed and picked up something. "One of the fishermen near shore called us and claimed that there was someone washed up on the beach so I went down to the beach in the storm and sure enough, you were there, clinging on to whatever this is. We didn't want to open it as it's your business, not ours. We brought you here and got you out of your soaking wet clothes, I let you wear a pair of my pajamas." I looked at the clothes I was wearing and looked up.

She held up a dry black suitcase. My eyes widened as I remembered what had happened. "My work! I hope it's not ruined!" I snatched my suitcase and carefully opened it. "Now I'm curious, what's in that thing anyway…" She peered over my shoulder. I looked inside relieved that all was okay. I heard a gasp. "You're an artist?! I figured you just had clothes in that thing!" My hand scratched the back of my head. "Hehe… nope, I knew it was a good decision to buy the waterproof one. Unfortunately, I was too scared to try it, so I didn't." Natalie smiled at me. "That's a relief!" She picked up the requested painting. "Wooowww! You're amazing! So, you sell these?" I took the covers from off of myself, threw my legs over the side of the bed and grinned. "Yepp! That one took me forever but I'm really happy with it. Oh! And thank you! That one was requested by someone named….. Mirabelle! That's where I've heard that name! So this is Sunny Island?!" Natalie looked surprised and gave me back the painting. "Your client is Mirabelle?! That's great!"

Suddenly I heard a somewhat raspy voice from the doorway. "Is she going to take over that decrepit piece of land? It'd be nice to have more shipments coming in." He walked in and stared at me. "Gramps… She's an artist, not a rancher!" He frowned and continued to stare at me. "Pffftt! Nonsense! This girl has a farming spirit just as strong as I did when I was her age!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me out the door. "Whoah! What the…." I stumbled a little from being dragged. "Gramps! You old bat! Bring her back, farming isn't her thing and she's still wearing my pajamas!" I heard Natalie call out the door. My focus was back on the old man dragging me. He grunted, "I know true farming spirit when I see it… and you my friend, have it." I was confused and frustrated. "Not to be rude, but….." I pulled my arm out of his grasp and put my hands on my hips. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! I _just _recovered from being unconscious for who knows how long and you just drag me off somewhere when I don't even know you or where we're going?! And what makes you think that _**I **_have this farming spirit you speak of when I _haven't grown crops, once, in my __**life!" **_He stared at me in disbelief…. then his face got beat red and pointed at me. "First off, that is no way to speak to your elders little missy and second I was just going to offer you a job that you couldn't refuse but now I don't think I will!" He started to storm back to Natalie's house. "And for your information, old man, I **already**_** have **_a job!" Just as Natalie approached me I started mumbling to myself. "I only respect the elders that respect me back."

Natalie put her hand on my back and walked me to a deserted looking house. "I'm sorry about him, his name is Taro. He's really blunt and goes straight to the point. I don't think it's a good idea to go back to my house to shower and get changed while gramps is there so you can use this old house he was leading you to earlier. I brought your stuff." I followed her as she opened the door and walked in. "Wait here." She ran out of the house and came back a few minutes later. "Okay, Gannon, the town carpenter said he'd turn the water and electricity back on in here. He said it should be back on in a few."

I walked over to the bed, sat down and looked around. "Why does your grandfather want someone to take over this dump so badly?" Natalie sighed, "Well you see, this island used to be very prosperous…. but one day, a few years ago, a large earthquake struck our island and everyone had to evacuate. Many people were scared to come back to the island because they thought it would happen again. Over time the island got smaller and people forgot about this place. Now, our home isn't very well known." I looked down, "Oh…." "Gramps thinks that if there was a farmer back on the island, we could get enough money to renovate houses and bring the sunshine back to Sunshine Islands. Gramps used to be a rancher himself so he knows a good rancher when he sees them. Unfortunately, he's far too old to take care of a farm." I looked at her sympathetically. "I really wish I could help but as I've told Taro, I've never grown a crop in my life and I have my current job to think about." Natalie sighed again. She looked at me, gasped and then grinned widely. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her questioningly.

"What?" …I widened my eyes and stiffened. "I have a beetle on my face don't I? GETITOFF! GETITOFF! GETITOFF! GETITOFF!" I flailed around looking like an idiot. "BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my goddess Chelsea…. No….Stop, you're killing me!" I stop to see her bent over laughing hysterically.

"Then why did you do that?" She wiped a tear from her eye from laughing so hard. "I did that because Taro could teach you how!... After he calms down that is. And you could make your current job a part-time job or hobby!" I thought about it and nodded. Then Natalie suddenly got sad again, "Wait your living in the city aren't you?" I closed my eyes and made a hand gesture. "Nah, I've been living in hotel rooms since I left home." She grinned again. "So it's settled then, you'll live here and work on this farm." I closed my eyes, tilted my head and smiled. "I guess so."


End file.
